Bachmann: Obama Can Close Birth Issue

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says President Barack Obama could put an end to questions about his citizenship if he stops resisting and produces his birth certificate. Bachmann also told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Tuesday the issue is the easiest of Obama’s many problems to resolve.

“All the president has to do is show it — all I’m saying is there is only one person who can attest to the authenticity, and that is the clerk of court in the county where he was born,” Bachmann said. “So everybody should run there, ask the clerk of court, solve and forget about it. People are curious about it — I think that, you know, that he should just solve it and let’s be done with it.”

Hannity asked Bachmann, founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, where she was in deciding whether to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.

“Well, we are visiting all the primary states right now — It has been fabulous,” she replied. “We started out the week in Iowa — I was in Washington, and then we went to South Carolina for three days, and I just came back from New Hampshire.

“People are fed up with President Obama and they want a change,” Bachmann continued. “We have had a wonderful reception wherever we’ve gone and I’m really encouraged. “Last quarter, I raised more money than any of the other candidates — even [former Massachusetts Gov.] Mitt Romney — thinking about running for president.”

Bachmann said she and her husband are trying to decide whether she has “the fire in the belly” to make a run.

“And part of it, you know, we’re Christians and we pray about these things — so we’re trying to . . . know that this is exactly what we should be doing right now,” she said. “I think that it is reasonable to say we have to make a decision by June because the Iowa straw poll is August.

“So we are already laying groundwork — we’re putting a team together in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina,” Bachmann continued. “So we are doing the deal, but to actually make the decision we have to know that all of our pieces are together — then we have to decide no later than sometime in June.”

On the nation’s fiscal crisis, Hannity asked whether Bachmann is confident the GOP will hold out for increased budget cuts when discussions begin on raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

“That’s what the expectation is of the people — again, I think at least two-thirds of the American people are just saying: ‘No, don't raise the debt ceiling at all,’” Bachmann said. “The only way that I could do that is that if we see a defunding of Obamacare — complete defunding — and of course, I’d like to see spending caps as well.”